Airy villa for four overlooking Lake Como. Stunning views, private sunny terrace - a peaceful communal garden to wander too

A beautiful renovation: light, bright and seemingly suspended over a lush valley with cool, contemporary interiors and stunning views

A cosy cottage on a farm down a long winding track, wonderfully rural with footpaths across fields or along the canal

Boutique hotel next to Funchal’s 15th-century cathedral, with a champagne and lobster bar, rooftop cocktail bar and an excellent restaurant

Pomegranates, persimmon and figs, the waft of rosemary on the air... we love this old 'mas' 25km from Gordes, in sweet sunny Provence

Lodge and gardens – superbly designed, immaculate, fresh, eco friendly – rest in unspoilt Picardy. Anglo-French hosts take turns to cook

A stone built 18th-century tower in a pretty valley dotted with fruit trees for quiet and relaxed days recuperating from life in the city

Stunning, spacious 3-storey converted mill with stylish bedrooms. Cook just-caught brown trout from the river, eat at a hand built oak table

What a setting! Gentle terraces, gardens, meadows and jaw-dropping views of Mont Blanc - just metres from Courmayeur

Marvellously quirky bolthole right on Lyme Regis seafront with stunning views; perfect for beach combers and boutique browsers

Fall asleep to the sound of the sea in your dreamy thatched cottage, one of 6, right on the beach for those head-clearing walks...

Great taste – in decor and food – and a delicious heated pool. Views swoop over field and valley; trails, villages, wineries tempt

Lovely old manor house and clever garden with a relaxed, happy vibe and home-baked or homegrown treats on arrival and at breakfasts

A luxurious springboard for the wineries, villages and treasures of south Tuscany in the magical Orcia valley - if you can bear to leave it!

If you need a great place in which to relax and don’t want to pay too much for it, try these excellent suites, which spoil you all the way

A pretty retreat in the grounds of a romantic château – you have your own walled garden, with terrace, pool and sunbathing area

A truly authentic place to stay on a Sicilian working farm with roaming hens, wheat fields, wild flowers and a distant view of the sea

A wall of glass frames the sea view - take drinks on the waterfront lawn in summer, or by the crackling fire in winter